37.2711, Reviews: Auxiliary Verbs and Main Verbs in Kiswahili: Assibi A. Amidu (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) (2026)

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Subject: 37.2711, Reviews: Auxiliary Verbs and Main Verbs in Kiswahili: Assibi A. Amidu (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) (2026)

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Date: 19-Aug-2026
From: Troy E Spier [tspier2 at gmail.com]
Subject: General Linguistics, Language Documentation, Morphology: Assibi A. Amidu (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) (2026)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/37-394

Title: Auxiliary Verbs and Main Verbs in Kiswahili
Subtitle: An Analysis of their Interrelationships and Patterns
Series Title: LINCOM Studies in African Linguistics 100
Publication Year: 2026

Publisher: Lincom GmbH
           https://lincom-shop.eu/
Book URL:
https://lincom-shop.eu/epages/57709feb-b889-4707-b2ce-c666fc88085d.sf/en_GB/?ViewObjectPath=%2FShops%2F57709feb-b889-4707-b2ce-c666fc88085d%2FProducts%2F%22ISBN%209783969392669%22

Author(s): Assibi A. Amidu (Norwegian University of Science and
Technology)

Reviewer: Troy E Spier

SUMMARY
Despite being the most widely spoken Bantu language, Swahili has not
consistently been subjected to the same degree of linguistic research
as Indo-European linguistic varieties. Assibi Amidu’s “Auxiliary Verbs
and Main Verbs in Kiswahili” attempts to fill this gap by focusing on
a singular morphosyntactic phenomenon: the definition, status, and
distribution of the auxiliary and semi-auxiliary verbs in Swahili. In
doing so, this book is organized into five chapters of variable length
with the shortest containing nineteen pages; the longest, over one
hundred.
The first chapter (“Introduction”) is the shortest chapter in the book
but firmly establishes the context under which this analysis takes
place. Auxiliary-main verb phrases and serial predicate constructions
are recognized as important in the study of the linguistic structure
of African languages, and the clause boundary criterion is established
to differentiate these VPs from clause chains. The morphological
structure of the Swahili verb is also presented for non-specialists,
and a range of extant scholarship is examined to demonstrate the
inconsistency with which scholars have treated verbal morphosyntactic
phenomena in Swahili. In particular, the work of Ashton (1947), among
others, is described as a seminal, yet deeply flawed work, leading to
terminology like ‘compound tenses’ and ‘compound forms’ that linger
even until today in the teaching and discussion of Swahili.
The second chapter (“The Auxiliary Verbs of Kiswahili”) is by far the
most fascinating, analytically rigorous of the book. The author notes
that “[t]he total number of auxiliary verbs in Kiswahili grammar is
unknown. No scholar has investigated the subject matter to determine
how many there are in the language” (p. 19). Indeed, this statement
reflects the exigence for the entire volume, as the conversation
shifts to definitional questions concerning what actually constitutes
an auxiliary verb in the first place. The author notes that existing
scholarship usually provides an answer through recourse to
Indo-European languages, but these are unsatisfactory at best for
Swahili, as the definitions result in some verbal forms being both
auxiliary and non-auxiliary simultaneously. Ten known auxiliaries and
approximately sixty undocumented auxiliaries are provided, and each is
exemplified in turn. At this point, the author critiques Haddon’s
(1955) description of semi-auxiliaries as both purely impressionistic
and prescriptive before examining the grammaticalization trajectories
of a number of verbs that have resulted in infixed TAM markers in the
Swahili VP, such as ‘kutaka’ (-taka -> -ta-) and ‘kwisha’ (-isha ->
-sha-).
The third chapter (“Typology of Auxiliary-Main Verb Phrases and
Finiteness”) opens by defining the key terminology, in particular, an
auxiliary verb as an extended predicate and a main verb as a central
predicate, before characterizing auxiliary-main VPs and serial
predicate constructions as examples of Amidu’s (2001) ‘verbal
teamwork.’ The author notes that adjuncts can appear between both
verbal and adverbial or nominal elements (e.g., bado, lazima, sasa,
daima, mara). Next, this chapter reviews the distinction between
finite and non-finite elements from Matthews (2007) and Crystal (2003)
as a way of critiquing Maw’s (1969) claim that imperatives are
non-finite, which the author presents as finite, noting that TAM
markers are not an obligatory component of finiteness. This is due to
the fact that finiteness must have a semantic component when a
semantically analogous or identical form has different morphosyntactic
manifestations, demonstrating that ‘Watoto wanaongea na wanacheka
dukani’ and ‘Watoto wanaongea na kucheka dukani’ or ‘Mpishi anataka
awe yu maarufu’ and ‘Mpishi anataka kuwa yu maarufu’ are semantically
identical while seemingly differing in finiteness, resulting in a
problematic challenge to existing definitions concerning the
relationship between auxiliaries and finiteness. Additionally, this
chapter examines how the copular verb functions in these contexts.
The fourth chapter (“Why Every {Kwisha} → {Isha} → {Sha} is a Verb”)
is the longest chapter in the book, arriving at 137 pages in length,
and focuses almost singularly upon the verb ‘kwisha’ (‘to
finish/end/complete’). The author argues that ‘kwisha’ cannot be both
a tense marker and a verb and notes that it can co-occur with both
nominal complements and ku-less verbs, i.e., those that remain
unaccompanied by the prototypical infinitival prefix. Two additional
verbs are discussed, ‘kutoa’ (‘to fail/omit’) and ‘kuja’ (‘to come’),
as examples of verbs that have undergone grammaticalization leading to
the development of negating TAM markers, before shifting the focus to
three step-by-step grammaticalization pathways for ‘kwisha’. The
chapter closes by addressing alternative interpretations of the data
presented before explaining why these are unsatisfactory.
The fifth chapter (“The Verb -Isha or -Kwisha and Negative
Inflections”) builds upon the previous chapter by examining what
happens when negation is introduced. Where an extended predicate and a
central predicate co-occur in the same VP, negation is applied only to
one of the two units. Thus, the negative counterpart to ‘Mkulima
alikuwa anaweza kusoma kitabu’ is ‘Mkulima alikuwa hawezi kusoma
kitabu,’ though negation of the first verb is also noted as a
possibility. This potential for variation is reinforced throughout the
chapter, as the author makes reference to dialectal variation and
correspondence with native speakers who were not always in agreement
over the grammaticality and interpretability of particular utterances.
Finally, this chapter examines a range of contexts in which ‘kwisha’
arises in conjunction with different TAM markers in negative forms.
EVALUATION
For anyone with even a passing interest in Bantu morphosyntax, Assibi
Amidu’s “Auxiliary Verbs and Main Verbs in Kiswahili” is certainly
worth reading, as it offers a rigorous, systematic accounting of
existing scholarship on auxiliary verbs in Swahili by critically
examining (and, in many instances, entirely dismantling) the claims
made in Ashton (1947), Haddon (1955), and Maw (1969), among others. In
pursuit of this critique, the author presents hundreds of linguistic
exemplars to challenge the current understanding of Swahili
morphosyntax, much of which has been influenced by or imported
wholesale from research on Indo-European linguistic varieties. The
book is also accompanied by sufficient qualifiers and consideration of
alternative analytical perspectives, which the author anticipates and
addresses precisely at the moment when the reader might pose the
relevant questions. To this end, Amidu successfully navigates
inconsistent terminology and received wisdom in proposing his
framework, which, based on the parenthetical citations alone, is part
of a larger, longitudinal study of Swahili verbs.
Although the depth of the analysis offered and the breadth of examples
provided are not in question, the scope of the analysis does seem far
more narrow than the title would otherwise suggest. For this reason,
although the second chapter examines approximately sixty auxiliary and
semi-auxiliary verbs, most of these remain unaddressed in the
remainder of the book, almost two-thirds of which focus principally on
‘kwisha’ and realizations of the copula. If ‘kwisha’ had been
explicitly offered as the prototype for the other (semi-)auxiliary
verbs, then this would be non-problematic. As it stands now, though,
either the title is incongruous with the contents or the contents fall
short of the title. Moreover, there was a missed opportunity here to
address scholarship on the auxiliary verb in African languages more
broadly (see, e.g., Anderson 2011).
Beyond this, a few formatting, stylistic, and organizational issues
are present. In some instances, the interlinear glosses employ
non-standard abbreviations; in all instances, though, the formatting
utilizes inconsistent whitespace that renders many of the glosses
somewhat difficult to parse. In particular, the third chapter contains
substantial typographical errors, and both the third and fifth
chapters experience a significant shift in prose from the academic to
the personal/anecdotal in describing instances where specific native
speakers agreed or disagreed with one another and with the analysis
offered in the volume. Finally, because the chapters vary considerably
in length from one another and because there is no formal conclusion
to the book, there exists a slight lack of balance in framing the
analysis effectively.
REFERENCES
Amidu, Assibi. 2001. Argument and Predicate Relations in Kiswahili: A
New Analysis of Bantu Transitiveness. Köln, DE: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
Anderson, Gregory D. S. 2011. “Auxiliary Verb Constructions in the
Languages of Africa.” Studies in African Linguistics, 40(1&2): 1-409.
Ashton, Ethel O. 1947. Swahili Grammar. London, UK: Longman Group.
Crystal, David. 2003. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics.
Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publications.
Haddon, Ernest B. 1955. Swahili Lessons. Cambridge, UK: W. Heffer and
Sons.
Matthews, Peter H. 2007. Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics.
Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Maw, Joan. 1969. Sentences in Swahili: A Study of their Internal
Relationships. London, UK: School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Troy E. Spier is Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics at
Florida A&M University and Invited Professor of Linguistics at
Universidad San Francisco de Quito. He earned his MA and Ph.D. in
Linguistics at Tulane University, his B.S.Ed. in English/Secondary
Education at Kutztown University, and a graduate certificate in
Islamic Studies at Dallas International University. His research
interests include language documentation and description, discourse
analysis, corpus linguistics, and linguistic landscapes.



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